


Jack & Gabe's

by crypticcatastrophe



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Domestic, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Restaurant, Cat Cafés, Drama, Drama & Romance, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fun, Humor, M/M, Multi, Romance, Slow Burn, Team Bonding, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wholesome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2019-08-24 18:03:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16645145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crypticcatastrophe/pseuds/crypticcatastrophe
Summary: Jack & Gabe's is the restaurant to go to, whether it's for the food, the fun, or the family.





	1. I. Pilot

Lena fumbled through her wallet for her keys, trying to be as quiet as possible. This would be the third consecutive day she was late, and Jack would kill her if he noticed, which he would if she was too loud. She was attempting to go in through the front door with the specific purpose of trying to sneak by him.

She was successful in finding her keys after around a minute, and she made her way into the restaurant without making too much noise.

The only one who seemed to notice her come in was Genji, who was wiping tables. He opened his mouth to say hello, but he settled with a silent wave when Lena put a finger over her lips.

She walked over to him to whisper in his ear. “I’ve been here since six, alright?”

Genji silently nodded as Lena noticed Jesse walking over with a broom and dustpan. She whispered the same thing to him, and he agreed as well, before resting his phone on one of Genji’s freshly wiped tables.

As the two of them began arguing, Lena ran over to the counter to start cleaning, but was stopped by Gabe, who gave her a quick hello before beckoning her to come into the kitchen.

When she entered, the smell of freshly cooked burgers filled her nostrils and she closed her eyes to take it in. When she opened them, Gabe was standing in front of her, a burger in his hand. She saw Jack behind him, grilling burgers and muttering to himself.

Gabe handed Lena the burger. “I’m trying a new patty recipe. Try it.”

Lena gladly took a bite, and a perfect combination of flavors filled her mouth. She chewed quickly to get a second bite in quickly. She hummed in appreciation while she chewed.

Gabe chucked. “I guess you like it then, huh?”

Lena nodded before swallowing her second bite. “Can I have one for lunch?”

“Sure thing. It’s a new combination of spices I’ve been trying out, so I’m glad you like it.”

Lena smiled and turned around to leave before hearing Jack call her name. “Where were you before?”

She turned to face Jack, her face red. “I was helping Genji clean tables.”

“I didn’t--”

Gabe walked over and put a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Give her a break. She’s trying her best.” He gave him a kiss on the cheek before going off to work on making more patties.

Lena gave Gabe a nod of appreciation before rushing out to start cleaning the counter, but just as she began, she heard a knock on the door. She saw Fareeha and Angela through the glass door, Fareeha in her police uniform and Angela in her signature white lab coat. She walked over to let them in. They weren’t open yet, but Fareeha and Angela were friends and it was an often thing for them to come for coffee and a chat with everyone.

They sat down at the counter as Lena finished cleaning it, and Jesse and Genji sat down next to them when they finally finished cleaning the floor and tables.

Jack eventually came out through the door of the kitchen, grease on his apron, which read “Raise the Steaks”. Saying hello to everyone, he wiped his hands on the cloth inside his apron pocket and took a seat at the counter, next to Angela.

As everyone chatted quietly and got settled, Gabe walked out of the kitchen with a tray of coffee, which Jack jumped up to help him with. They both smiled, knowing that Gabe didn’t actually need any help.

Fareeha cheered at the sight of this. “Yes! Something to dunk my doughnut in.”

Everyone looked down to see a doughnut in Fareeha’s hand which absolutely wasn’t there a minute ago. Angela laughed and leaned back into Fareeha’s chest. “Stereotypical policewoman.”

Fareeha chucked and took a bite of her doughnut. “What can I say? I can’t fight crime on an empty stomach.”

Everyone laughed and the conversation paused for a bit for everyone to start drinking their coffee, which had just cooled down to an appropriate drinking temperature. Once he’d finished his first gulp of coffee, Genji began to mutter something inaudible to Jesse, but the room remained silent otherwise.

The kitchen door opened again and Ana entered the room. “Fareeha! You didn’t tell me you were coming this morning.”

“We come almost every morning, mom.”

Ana just smiled and looked down at the folder in her arms. “Finances are looking good, Jack.”

That was something that everyone was happy to hear. It wasn’t just the staff whose lives were run by the little burger joint. It was like a family. The staff, their friends, the frequent customers. They were a tightly knit group.

After finishing her talk about finances, Ana took a seat at the counter. “So, what have you all been talking about?”

Angela was the first to speak up. “Fareeha’s doughnut addiction.”

Gabe was quick to chime in. “She’s the only cop I’ve ever actually seen with a doughnut.”

A few giggles arose from the group as Ana patted Fareeha on the shoulder. “You look healthy to me, though.” She paused to look around at the group. “Anyway, any news from around town?”

Gabe put down his mug of coffee. “I heard there’s a cat café opening up on Black Forest Ave.”

“Oh, Hana will be happy to hear about that,” Angela commented, looking up from her phone.

Lena perked up at the news of the café. “Oh, I want to go!”

Angela giggled. “Lena, you’re allergic to cats.”

Lena just shrugged, and everyone chuckled.

Jesse chugged his third cup of coffee and slammed it down on the counter, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “Isn’t it Torbjörn’s daughter who owns the place?”

Genji snorted. “Which one?” he asked, which got a laugh out of everyone.

Fareeha looked down at her phone to see the time. “It’s almost seven. We should get going, Ange.” Angela nodded and they both got up to leave, waving goodbye.

As soon as Angela and Fareeha left, the staff got down to work. Genji took all the coffee mugs to clean them, and Jack fired up the grill while Gabe started making breakfast patties. Lena and Jesse put on their aprons and Ana returned to her office.

As the minute hand reached the twelve, Lena unlocked the doors and turned on the lights on the “open” sign.

Guests began to filter in, one by one, most of them ordering coffee and breakfast sandwiches, although the occasional customer would order hot tea or fries.

As Lena walked into the kitchen to grab an order off of Jack, she noticed that Gabe seemed a little frustrated. Taking the plate of fries, she stopped next to him. “You alright, Gabe?”

He turned around to face her. “I forgot to buy bread this morning.” He paused for a second, and it seemed like he was thinking. “Can you run over to Amélie’s and pick some up? I’ll give you a list.”

Lena nodded. “I’ll just bring these out and ask Jesse to cover my tables, and then I’ll make my way over.”

Gabe gave her a grateful smile as she left the kitchen to deliver her order.

When she came back, he handed her the list and turned back to what he was doing. “Have you met Amélie before?”

Lena shook her head.

“Alright. She seems scary at first, but she doesn’t bite. I promise.”

Lena nodded, her eyes wide. Before leaving, she turned back to Gabe. “Oh, and I think we need more wait staff, by the way. This place gets busier every day.”

Gabe shouted over the humming of the kitchen appliances. “I’ll consider it!” And with that, Lena jogged out of the restaurant and walked across the street to Amélie’s bakery.

The door set off a bell when she entered to see the inside of the bakery. It was a cute little place; the furniture was made out of nice polished wood and there were dim lights hanging from the ceiling, giving off a relaxing vibe, and piano music played in the background.

“Bonjour.”

Lena turned to see the woman who she assumed to be Amélie. She was tall, with long hair, dyed purple and tied back into a ponytail.

Lena was startled for a second, but quickly regained her composure. “Are you Amélie?”

“Oui. How can I help you, chérie?”

Lena hesitated for a second before putting the list down on the counter. “I’m here to pick up some bread for Gabe.”

Amélie nodded. “Ah, I see. You work for him?”

“Uh, yes. I do.”

Amélie gave a small smile before turning to get the bread she needed.

Lena scolded herself for acting so silly. She couldn’t just stumble over her words whenever she was talking to an attractive woman.

Amélie soon returned with two large bags of bread. “Here you are. Gabe already paid me for all of the bread for this month, so you don’t have to give me anything.”

Lena thanked her and turned to walk out, but was stopped by Amélie’s voice. “What is your name, chérie?”

Lena turned around on her heel, and she could feel her cheeks getting hot. “Lena.” She gave Amélie a lopsided grin.

Amélie just nodded. “I’ll see you again soon, then, Lena.”

Lena nodded and rushed out of the door and back to the restaurant. She’d forgotten that she’d left Jesse with all of her tables. Genji had probably had to pitch in, as well, even though he was a kitchen hand and not a waiter.

She found that she was correct about her assumption when she returned to see that Genji was handing all of Lena’s tables, which all had completely different customers at that point. Lena quickly shouted an apology in Genji’s direction before rushing into the kitchen with Gabe’s bread.

Gabe looked up from his cooking when Lena put the bags of bread on the counter. “Thanks, Lena. I was just about to run out.”

“No problem.” Lena began to turn away, but stopped for a second. “Hey, Gabe?”

Gabe hummed in question.

“Can I pick up the bread more often?”

Gabe chuckled. “Sure, Lena.”


	2. II. A Game of Risk

Friday night at the restaurant meant game night, and so Lena and Jesse rushed to clean the dining area once the last customer of the day left while Genji tried his best to get the kitchen clean as fast as he could. It was a long-practiced tradition at Jack & Gabe’s, and a well-loved one, too.

Lena had just finished cleaning the last table on her side of the dining area when she heard loud and rapid knocks on the front door. Jesse ran to get it before she could and in through the door came Hana, a family friend of Gabe’s and a part-time employee at the restaurant. She didn’t take her eyes off of her phone as she made her way over to the counter, giving Jesse and Lena a small “hello”.

Genji soon came out of the kitchen, greeted Hana, and announced that he was finished cleaning the kitchen and that Gabe would come out with that night’s game soon. Lena and Jesse exchanged glances, their excitement clear in their facial expressions.

A few knocks on the front door (that were much less impatient than Hana's) were heard from the counter, and, seeing Fareeha and Angela through the glass door, Lena jumped up to let them in.

Jack soon came out through the kitchen door, Ana following just behind him. “Gabe’ll be out here in a minute,” Jack said, nodding at everyone in greeting.

Loud, slow knocks were heard and Ana walked over to let in Reinhardt. He was a friend of the staff and he always came down to the restaurant for game night, although he lived about an hour’s drive away.

As Reinhardt made his way in, Gabe burst out of the kitchen door, a light brown box in his hand. “Hey everyone.”

Jesse jumped up from his seat. “What’s the game tonight?”

Gabe dropped the box on the counter, where everyone could see. “Risk.”

Hana dropped her phone down on the counter. “Oh, yes! I’m so good at this game.”

Jesse chuckled. “Not as good as me.”

“We’ll see about that!”

Everyone rushed to push four tables together, and Gabe took the game out of the box and set everything up. He pulled a pouch from out of his pocket and shook it around before dropping it down on the table and disappearing back into the kitchen to get everyone some drinks.

Lena eyed the pouch that Gabe had just left. “We haven’t invited anyone new for a while,” she commented, playing with one of the tiny soldiers from the game box.

Hana looked up from her phone. “True. I could use some fresh competition.”

Jack sat down at one of the seats at the table. “We could invite Amélie if you guys really want,” he offered, just as Gabe came through the door with everyone’s drinks.

Gabe had overheard this, and, saying that it was a lovely idea, handed everyone their drink and headed across the street to invite her over. He soon came back through the front doors, Amélie following closely behind him.

Lena greeted Amélie and pointed at the chair next to her for her to sit. Gabe took out his notepad and wrote Amélie’s name on a piece of paper before putting it into the pouch with everyone else’s names. He shook the pouch again before pulling out six pieces of paper and reading them. “Alright, we have an interesting ensemble for today’s first game. Lena, Hana, Jesse, Fareeha, Genji, and Jack. You can pick your colours in the order I said your names.”

Lena was first, and so she picked yellow. Hana was next, and so she picked blue, Jesse took the reds, Fareeha took the blacks, and Genji took the greens, leaving Jack with the greys.

Each of them took twenty infantry from their box of soldiers and then a mission card. Lena’s mission was to eliminate all blue troops. Damn. She already knew that she wasn’t going to be able to beat Hana that many times, but she was surely going to try.

All of the players began placing their infantry on territories in the same order that they picked their colours, and after they finished, the game began.

Lena started by sending her troops from Iceland to attack Hana’s in Great Britain. She tried as hard as she could, but she ended up losing all but one of her troops, and gave up, moving a few extra troops she had in Brazil to Iceland.

A few more moves went by and Lena managed to take Great Britain and all of South America from Hana, and she took a few more infantry, since she dominated the continent. Noticing this, however, Jack quickly took Venezuela from her to prevent her from getting any more.

At this point, Genji and Jesse were at each other’s throats, and they attack each other exclusively, and whenever they would battle, there would be screaming and cheering and possibly even a spilled drink. Lena even fell from her chair at one point from the excitement, which earned a laugh from everyone before Amélie, still chuckling, offered her a hand to help her up.

After the incident, they decided to take a short intermission at Gabe’s request, and he made a quick trip to the kitchen to get a few bowls of chips for everyone.

Lena took this chance to chat with Amélie a bit. It was light discussion, with Lena mostly asking questions about the her and the bakery. Talking to her felt inexplicably nice, and Lena found herself smiling long after their conversation ended and the game resumed.

Everyone soon got back into the flow of the game, with the same intensity as before. Angela was sitting on Fareeha’s lap, whispering strategies into her ear at every turn. Genji and McCree exchanged competitive glances and they soon returned to their yelling. Lena took Venezuela back from Jack, only for Hana to take it back from her after taking Central America from Jack.

Lena and Hana’s battled soon became just like Genji and Jesse’s as Hana figured out what Lena’s mission was, and so the entire game became a session of yelling.

After a long fight, however, the game came to its end when Hana took Quebec from Fareeha and threw her arms in the air, announcing that she’d completed her mission to take over both Americas.

The rest of them all put down their mission cards, and it was revealed that Genji’s mission was to eliminate all of Jesse’s troops, while Jesse’s mission was to take over all of Asia and Europe, and Genji had been dominating Asia for the entire game.

Gabe went into the kitchen and soon came out with more drinks for everyone. “Should we have a second game?”

Everyone agreed that another game would be a good idea, and Gabe picked six more names out of the pouch: Lena, Amélie, Genji, Gabe, Reinhardt, and Ana.

Lena deployed her troops and looked at her mission: eliminate all black troops.

She looked around to see that the black troops were Amélie’s. Damn! She couldn’t do that. She mentally changed her mission to taking over the Americas.

It didn’t take many turns for things to get intense between Gabe, Genji, and Reinhardt, who were all fighting over Africa.

Lena soon noticed that Amélie seemed to be going for the Americas as well, but she refused to change her mission again. She was already cheating. She wasn’t going to do it even more.

Things began to get intense between them as Lena dominated South America and Amélie had almost all of North America. They battled relentlessly over the Western United states, and it was almost getting to the level of the conflicts of Genji and Jesse in the last game, expect it was less yelling and more laughing at themselves while everyone else took sides.

The battles were long and hard-fought, but eventually Ana announced that she won by taking over Australia and Asia. Everyone else sat back in their seats as the excitement began to wind down. Jack and Gabe worked together to clean up the game and Genji brought the food and drinks back to the kitchen.

After everything was cleaned up, no one wanted to leave, and so everyone decided to stay for a while for a chat.

Gabe sat down on one of the tables, finally relaxing for the first time that day. “So, Amélie, how did you enjoy game night?”

Amélie replied with a chuckle, leaning back in her seat. “I must say, I quite enjoyed myself.”

Gabe leaned back a bit as well, smiling. “Well, you’re invited every Friday, if you want.”

Amélie returned that smile. “I’ll be happy to come.”

Jack walked over to Gabe and sat next to him on the table, facing Amélie. “So, how’s the bakery doing?”

Amélie’s eyes widened for a second. “Oh, it’s doing alright, I suppose.”

Jack raised his eyebrows. “What do you mean by alright?”

“Oh, I’m just going through a bit of a rough patch, financially, but I’m sure it’ll be alright soon.”

Jack nodded and it was silent for a while before Hana piped up. “So Lúcio told me he’s coming to town soon.”

Gabe leaned over to rest his head on Jack’s shoulder. “Really? You should ask him to stop by, maybe even play one night.”

“On it. I’m sure he’d love to,” Hana replied before looking down to begin typing on her phone.

Conversation about Lúcio continued on for a while before the silence returned and Reinhardt changed the subject. “Have any of you seen the cat café on Black Forest Avenue?” A few people nodded their heads before Reinhardt continued. “It’s my goddaughter who owns it. Brigitte.”

Hana looked up from her phone again. “Oh, that’s who she is! She seemed familiar to me. It seems like a cute place.”

Reinhardt stood up, searching his pockets. “It’s very nice. I’ve already met the cats!”

Gabe lifted his head off of Jack’s shoulder. “Maybe we should all head down there together sometime.”

Lena jumped up from her seat. “Yeah, definitely!”

“Lena, you’re still allergic to cats,” commented Angela.

“So?” Lena shrugged, earning a laugh from Amélie and the rest of those who hadn’t been there that morning.

Reinhardt began walking towards the door. “I’d best be on my way back. I have a long drive ahead of me.”

Everyone said goodbye to Reinhardt. And Fareeha tapped Ana on the shoulder as soon as he left. “Mom, just ask him on a date already.”

“Be quiet, Fareeha.”

A few people chuckled at this before Gabe suggested that they all got heading some, as it was quite late in the night. They all agreed and they left the restaurant as a group, going their own ways for the night.

Lena made sure to wish Amélie goodbye before running off back to her apartment for some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y'all! i'd just like to use the notes at the end of this chapter to say that i'm on tumblr now, so feel free to shoot me an ask or a message if you'd like to chat about this story, a ship, overwatch, or anything, really! my url is cryptic-catastrophe :)
> 
> i hope you all enjoyed the chapter!!


	3. III. Cats & Catastrophes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> See Brigitte's cat cafe and meet her sister, Linnea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> five months and one day, exactly. that's how long it took me to get another chapter out.  
> ..........sorry about that
> 
> anyway so yea, Brigitte's older sister, Linnea, works with her in the cafe-- I'm so sorry to introduce an OC, but I couldn't have Brigitte working alone and I feel like the Lindholms are the family business type, so here we are i guess

It wasn’t like Lena to skip her morning jog, yet... here she was. As much as her beloved beagle, Henry, gave her his signature puppy eyes and defeated whimpers, she just couldn’t bring herself to get out of bed and run. She woke up at her normal Saturday time-- seven o’clock-- but as the hour hand of her clock passed eight, and then nine, and then ten, she just couldn’t seem to get out of bed. Henry soon gave up his begging and settled down to have a nap at the foot of the bed.

Sleeping late wasn’t something Lena was usually able to do, but it wasn’t unwelcome, either. It wasn’t often that she could suppress her abundant energy and simply relax. It felt nice, just watching the second hand of her clock tick, her mind not daring to wander anywhere else. _That_ was something it didn’t normally do.

She had just began to consider getting up when she heard her phone go off, which scared Henry to the point that he fell off the bed. She checked her screen and saw it was Gabe calling, so she answered right away. “Hello?”

“Hey, Lena. You doing ok? You sound tired.”

Lena sat up and shook her head to wake herself up. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just having a bit of a lie-in.”

“Oh, alright.” Gabe paused to clear his throat. “Well, a few of us are heading down to the cat café if you’re interested.”

Lena started getting dressed as soon as she heard the word ‘cat’. “I’ll be right there. I’m getting ready as we speak.” With the press of a button, she ended the call and continued to rush through her morning routine. She didn’t waste a second as she continued getting dressed as well as brushing her teeth, and then washing her face. She was still pulling on a shoe as she dashed out of her apartment door after making sure to say goodbye to Henry and apologize for missing their morning run.

Black Forest Avenue wasn’t far from her apartment complex, so Lena decided to bike there as opposed to taking a bus. She lived towards the outskirts of the city, and the café was located right on the edge. She guessed it would take her fifteen minutes at most.

The journey went by like a blur as Lena raced down streets, occasionally taking obscure alleyways as shortcuts, navigating them effortlessly. She could have made this journey blindfolded-- saying she knew this city well would be a serious understatement.

The tall buildings that once surrounded her gradually shrunk to become single-story storefronts, and Lena was now shaded by trees instead of billboards and skyscrapers. Her bike screeched to a halt as she stopped to take a breath of the fresh air, audibly exhaling. She hadn’t traveled outside the city in a long time.

However, she continued to peddle down Black Forest Avenue once the thought of cats yet again entered her mind. She now traveled at a moderate pace as opposed to the expeditious one she’d taken before.

It wasn’t long until she found her destination, since Jack, Gabe, and Genji were all standing outside. Lena parked her bike and excitedly stumbled towards them, unable to wipe the grin off her face at the thought of so many cats.

Gabe was the first to notice her arrival. “Well, you seem excited.”

“I _am_ excited.” Lena crossed her arms, pretending to be offended.

The other three just laughed. Jack turned around to look through the glass window of the cat café and Lena noticed that Reinhardt, Ana, Torbjörn and two of his daughters were already inside. One of his daughters-- Brigitte, she believed-- was waving, beckoning for them to come inside.

Genji opened the door and held it for everyone else. Lena gave him a nod of thanks before looking down to see what may have been the most beautiful sight of her life.

There were cats. Everywhere.

Lena didn’t even greet Brigitte before she crouched down to greet the cats, making a noise that sounded something like a mix between a squeal and a sob. Her mind went blank as she frantically began petting the cats.

Her meeting with her new friends was interrupted by Genji, who tapped her on the shoulder. She shook her head and immediately stood up to face Brigitte. “Sorry.” She looked at her feet as she scratched the back of her neck. “Got a little carried away, didn’t I?”

Brigitte giggled and gave her a wave of dismissal. “Don’t worry. I don’t blame you. It’s not every day you walk into a café to be greeted by seventeen cats.”

Lena’s jaw dropped. “Seventeen?”

Brigitte nodded. “Seventeen.” She paused for a moment before turning to look at the rest of the visitors. “Anyway, I know you all know my godfather and my father, but…” she turned to the girl who Lena had assumed to be another of Torbjörn’s daughters and put her hand on her shoulder. “This is my older sister, Linnea.”

Linnea silently waved to the group as they all greeted her. Lena noticed that she looked much more like her parents than Brigitte did-- she had the same bleach blonde hair and bright blue eyes, which, unlike her father’s, gave off a calm and friendly aura. She stood a few inches shorter than her sister, and her figure was more willowy. It seemed that she had taken heavily after her mother.

Lena’s observations were disrupted by Jack’s voice from behind her. “Where’s Ingrid?” he asked, his eyes directed toward Brigitte.

Torbjörn answered the question in place of his daughter. “She’s already stopped by to drop off some apple pies. She’ll be back soon, I’m sure.”

Jack nodded and cleared his throat. “Well, should be get started with these cats, then?”

Lena didn’t need the invitation to get back to the cats. She was already sitting cross-legged on the floor with a solid white one purring on her lap. It took her a while to even notice that everyone else had taken a seat and Brigitte and Linnea had disappeared to the kitchen, but even then she waited for the cat to leave on his own before jumping up to join Genji at a table.

Along with tables, around the café were several cat trees and scratching posts. Little nesting compartments and shelves meant for climbing lined the walls, and most of the cats tended to levitate towards these, but the friendlier ones were all over the tables, chairs, and people, who were all happy to have them. Lena couldn’t help but dart her eyes around to observe all of them-- they were just too cute.

Tearing her eyes from the cats on the shelves, Lena turned to notice that Genji, sitting there, straight-faced, had attracted four cats, all of which were sitting on some part of his body. Lena took this opportunity to take a photo on her phone and send it to Jesse, who was probably still asleep in his apartment.

Genji barely moved the muscles on his face when he spoke up. “I must,” he paused for a second as a cat adjusted itself on his arm. “Keep still.” He didn’t adjust his facial expression or move any part of his body. “I suppose I live like this now.”

He had now managed to draw everyone’s attention, and Gabe took a photo as well, which he claimed was going to go in this year’s scrapbook.

Linnea had emerged from the kitchen in the middle of this scene, and stifled a giggle as she placed mugs of various types of coffee and tea in front of everyone before disappearing again.

The bell of the front door scared off most of the cats, save for the ones who’d settled on Genji, as Fareeha and Angela entered, greeting everyone before sitting at the table. Fareeha muttered something to Angela which Lena was sure involved Genji’s situation. Angela let out a snort in laughter as she took a seat next to Lena.

Brigitte soon emerged from the kitchen with a tray of assorted baked goods, which Lena somehow became more excited about than she had the cats, and it seemed that Fareeha and Angela felt the same way.

Brigitte let out a giggle as she watched them snatch cake after cake from the tray. “I suppose I can give Linnea and my mother your compliments, then?”

Gabe’s eyes widened as he finished chewing the pastry he’d just taken. “They made these?”

Brigitte nodded. “Mostly Linnea. My mother made the pies, though.”

Ana took a sip of her tea to wash down a cake. “I didn’t know Linnea could bake.”

Torbjorn walked up to stand next to Brigitte, and hopped onto a chair to gain some height so that he could put his arm around her shoulders. “Well, my daughters are full of surprises.”

Reinhardt leaned back in his chair. “Don’t give yourself so much credit, my friend,” he scoffed, which earned a laugh from the rest of the group and finally scared the cats away from Genji.

Genji reluctantly took a sip of his tea-- which was now cold-- as he mourned the loss of his companions. The rest of the group gave a moment of silence for him.

The silence lasted for some time, but it was interrupted by Lena’s sneeze.

Oh no.

Angela’s gaze darted to look straight at Lena. “Did you take an antihistamine?”

Realization hit her like a truck. “No, I--” her words were interrupted by another sneeze.

Angela sighed and got up out of her chair. “Fareeha, can you explain the situation to Brigitte? I’ll take her outside.”

Fareeha nodded as Angela grabbed Lena’s hand and led her out the door of the café and towards a bench located just outside. “Oh, Lena. I should have known this was going to happen,” she shook her head in disapproval as she sat down next to Lena on the bench. “Look at you. Your eyes are starting to get puffy.”

Lena flopped down to lie sideways on the bench. “I know. I was just so excited by cats, I guess.”

* * *

Jesse jolted awake on his couch, knocking an empty bottle of beer to the floor in the process. He must have fallen asleep while watching spaghetti western films again. Shaking his head to wake himself up, he reached for his phone to check the time-- two o'clock in the afternoon. Not too bad.

On his phone screen was also a text from Lena. He opened it to see what was probably the best image he’d laid eyes upon in his entire life. He couldn’t restrain himself as he let out an obnoxious hyena laugh at the sight of it. His fest of laughter continued until he heard the annoyed shout of his neighbour in the next apartment over:

“SHUT UP.”

Right. The complex had thin walls. Jesse had forgotten about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a quick apology for the info dump on Linnea-- I felt like it was needed since we already know the other characters. I plan to add her to some plot points in the future.
> 
> I have some plot points that I plan on adding, and I also have a few ideas for different ships that I can add.  
> Since I'm a multishipper, that depends on you guys-- I can add either Mekanic or Bunnyribbit in the future and I have plot ideas associated with both ships. I also wouldn't be opposed to maybe one being a fling and the other being endgame for Hana. I could also add romantic McGenji, but I'm flexible about that and they'll still be good friends in this story either way. There are also more characters I will be adding.
> 
> Lmk your opinions on what pairings you'd like to see :)


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